HEAVY SHOTS AT GEESE WITH PUNT GUNS. 423 



the north by the sealing up of the waters under the 

 influence of frost. At these times however extensive 

 flocks, or gaggles, of these geese are frequently met 

 with on our estuaries, where this sea-grass grows at 

 all plentifully. They rarely come inland, and generally 

 pass the day at sea, only flying in to their pastures 

 on the mud flats by night. A great resort of brent 

 geese is Tralee Bay, in the South of Ireland, where 

 according to Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, 40 brent were 

 killed at one shot, with a punt gun, about 1865, by 

 a Mr. Graves. His gun was a regular piece of artil- 

 lery, 12 feet long in the barrel, weighing 300 Ibs and 

 carrying a charge of ^ of a pound of powder and 

 3 j Ibs of shot. * Such a weapon, though immensely 

 powerful, Sir R. Payne-Gallwey considers too heavy 

 and cumbersome for general use: a boat fit to carry 

 it with the two men necessary for working it would 

 no doubt have great difficulty in navigating the 

 exceedingly shallow waters at the edge of the mud 

 banks in many places, where the best sport is gener- 

 ally to be had. Tralee Bay however being mostly 

 deep water enables heavy metal to be used. The 

 heaviest shot Sir R. Payne-Gallwey says he ever knew 

 to be made at geese, was fired by Grimes of Limerick, 

 another big gunner, who obtained 43 bean geese 

 (Anser Segetunt) at one shot, on the ooze at the mouth 

 of the River Maigue, County of Limerick. His gun 

 carried half a pound of powder and 2\ Ibs of shot.. 

 These geese are very much larger than brent, being the 

 size of ordinary farmyard geese, of some varieties of which 

 it is probable that the bean goose is the wild ancestor. 



* The Fowler in Ireland; Notes on the Haunts and Habits of Wildfowt 

 and Sea/owl, by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Bart., 1882, pp. 152 3. 



